Rollerblade® brought the sport of inline skating to the world and continues to perfect our singular focus:

AUTHENTIC PRODUCTS FOR A TRUE EXPERIENCE

Rollerblade® is credited with creating one of the fastest-growing sports in the world. The world leader in the in-line skate market, Rollerblade pioneered the in-line skating boom by changing the perception of in-line skates. Once seen as strictly an off-season training device for hockey players, in-line skates are now a widely accepted "lifestyle" product that can be used by just about anyone. Today professional athletes, fitness enthusiasts and fun seekers of all ages enjoy the sport of in-line skating.

The Beginning

Legend has it that the first in-line skates date back to the 1700's when a Dutchman attempted to simulate ice skating by nailing wooden spools to strips of wood attached to his shoes.

In 1863, an American developed the first roller skate with wheels attached side by side. Soon, the two-by-two wheel formation became the standard and the in-line skate was quickly forgotten. Versions of the in-line skate resurfaced periodically, but the concept hadn't caught on yet.

Given the technology of the time, in-line skates could not be designed to function as well as conventional roller-skates. By 1930, roller skates had found a permanent place in society. But it took 29 more years, until 1959, for someone to mass-produce a metal-wheeled skate. The next significant development came in 1973 when the skate was further improved and popularized by the introduction of the polyurethane wheel.
In 1980, two hockey-playing Minnesota brothers discovered an in-line skate while rummaging through a sporting goods store and decided that this design would make an ideal off-season hockey-training tool. They refined the skate and began assembling the first Rollerblade® skates in the basement of their parents' Minneapolis home. It was that same year, when they founded the company that would become Rollerblade®.